Related papers: Theory of random packings
Formulating a statistical mechanics for granular matter remains a significant challenge, in part, due to the difficulty associated with a complete characterization of the systems under study. We present a fully characterized model of a…
The study of the dynamics of the size of a population via mathematical modelling is a problem of interest and widely studied. Traditionally, continuous deterministic methods based on differential equations have been used to deal with this…
Using sedimentation to obtain precisely controlled packings of noncohesive spheres, we find that the volume fraction $\phi_{\rm RLP}$ of the loosest mechanically stable packing is in an operational sense well defined by a limit process.…
Studies of random close packing of spheres have advanced our knowledge about the structure of systems such as liquids, glasses, emulsions, granular media, and amorphous solids. When these systems are confined their structural properties…
We present a statistical mechanical description of randomly packed spherical particles, where the average coordination number is treated as a macroscopic thermodynamic variable. The overall packing entropy is shown to have two…
A recent letter titled "Explicit Analytical Solution for Random Close Packing in d=2 and d=3" published in Physical Review Letters proposes a first-principle computation of the random close packing (RCP) density in spatial dimensions d=2…
Packings of identical objects have fascinated both scientists and laymen alike for centuries, in particular the sphere packings and the packings of identical regular tetrahedra. Mathematicians have tried for centuries to determine the…
A possible approach to the statistical description of granular assemblies starts from Edwards' assumption that all blocked states occupying the same volume are equally probable (S.F. Edwards, R. Oakeshott, Physica A 157, 1080 (1989)). We…
This review describes the diversity of jammed configurations attainable by frictionless convex nonoverlapping (hard) particles in Euclidean spaces and for that purpose it stresses individual-packing geometric analysis. A fundamental feature…
We present an analytical derivation of the volume fractions for random close packing (RCP) in both $d=3$ and $d=2$, based on the same methodology. Using suitably modified nearest neigbhour statistics for hard spheres, we obtain…
Despite its long history, there are many fundamental issues concerning random packings of spheres that remain elusive, including a precise definition of random close packing (RCP). We argue that the current picture of RCP cannot be made…
In this thesis I present most of the results obtained during my PhD, where I worked on different subjects regarding jamming in systems of frictionless spheres. In particular, I focused on microscopic properties of jammed packings, such as…
Understanding granular and other athermal systems requires the identification of state variables which consistently predict their bulk properties. A promising approach has been to draw on the techniques of equilibrium statistical mechanics,…
We experimentally investigate the steady states of two granular assemblies differing in their material properties and allowed to exchange volume with each other under external agitation in the vicinity of their jamming transition. We…
More than 30 years ago Edwards and co-authors proposed a model to describe the statistics of granular packings by an ensemble of equiprobable jammed states. Experimental tests of this model remained scarce so far. We introduce a simple…
Using X-ray tomography, we experimentally investigate granular packings subject to mechanical tapping for three types of beads with different friction coefficients. We validate Edwards volume ensemble in these three-dimensional granular…
We link the thermodynamics of colloidal suspensions to the statistics of regular and random packings. Random close packing has defied a rigorous definition yet, in three dimensions, there is near universal agreement on the volume fraction…
This paper illustrates how the tools of equilibrium statistical mechanics can help to explain a far-from-equilibrium problem: the jamming transition in frictionless granular materials. Edwards ideas consist of proposing a statistical…
By means of a simple model system, the total volume fluctuations of a tapped granular material in the steady state are studied. In the limit of a system with a large number of particles, they are found to be Gaussian distributed, and…
We measure the number Omega(phi) of mechanically stable states of volume fraction phi of a granular assembly under gravity. The granular entropy S(phi) = log Omega(phi) vanishes both at high density, at phi = phi_rcp, and a low density, at…